If all goes according to plan, Cara Blessing and Chelsea Bolyard will marry today in Chicago.
They’ll cry happy tears, pose for photos, celebrate.

Then the Clintonville residents will head home, knowing that the legal significance of their
marriage diminishes with every eastward mile.

“It’s a move to protect ourselves, as best we can, going forward,” Bolyard, 29, said of their
decision to join a small “marriage caravan” to a place where, unlike in Ohio, they are permitted to
wed.

“And it’s about love.”

Advocates say federal recognition of same-sex marriage, which provides at least some financial
and psychological benefits, is prompting growing numbers of Ohio couples to journey out of state to
marry.

German Village resident Rick Neal, who is sponsoring the caravan with his husband, Tom Grote,
said the appeal would squander a chance for Ohio to do right by same-sex couples and families.

“Even though I’m a stay-at-home dad with two little girls, I’m not legally their father,” said
Neal, 47. “That’s ridiculous.”

Neal and Grote always wanted their marriage to be recorded in Ohio. But after the U.S. Supreme
Court effectively struck down the federal ban on gay marriage last summer, the two married in
Massachusetts. They still consider their 2007 Columbus ceremony, amid friends and family, “our real
wedding,” Neal said. “The only thing missing was the legal part.”

He and Grote decided to offer logistical and financial support to help other couples travel to
marry in advance of Black’s ruling, even as its long-term effect on Ohio’s gay-marriage ban is
unclear.

Blessing, 29, said she already has faced the heartbreak that can befall gay parents whose rights
aren’t recognized. Because Ohio law forbids adoption by unmarried couples, same-sex couples who
adopt or become parents after one has a biological child cannot both be considered legal parents to
the child.

When Blessing and her then-partner split up, her ex retained parental rights to their young son
because she is the one who adopted him.

“There was a part of the year when I couldn’t even see him,” Blessing said of their long,
difficult custody case.

German Village residents Leah Kaiser and Jenn Lape, both 29, say children are a big reason they
joined the caravan and will marry today in Chicago.

“We’re at the point where we’re starting to talk about having a family. Having that protection
is important to us,” Kaiser said.

Columbus lawyer LeeAnn Massucci, whose family-law practice represents many same-sex parents,
said there could be a small window after Black’s ruling — before any stay of the decision takes
place — that would allow parents to file adoption petitions. Neal, for example, wants to make that
move quickly.

“I would hope that the Probate Court is going to accept them,” Massucci said. “Whether that goes
anywhere remains to be seen. The adoption process is not a quick one.”

Meanwhile, the out-of-state marriage trend likely will continue. Michael Premo, campaign manager
for Why Marriage Matters Ohio, said a 2012 study estimated that legalizing same-sex marriage in
Ohio would result in about 9,800 new marriages in the first three years.

“How many of those are deciding they can’t wait?” he said.

Blessing and Bolyard don’t see a reason for delay.

“We didn’t think now would mean
now,” Bolyard said, laughing about the quickly arranged trip. “But it’s been in our hearts
all along.”